Warner Music Group Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NASDAQ:WMG)

Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ:WMG) saw some unusual options trading on Monday. Stock investors purchased 10,032 put options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 2,758% compared to the typical daily volume of 351 put options.

Institutional Trading of Warner Music Group

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Fifth Third Bancorp purchased a new stake in Warner Music Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $38,000. Mather Group LLC. purchased a new stake in shares of Warner Music Group in the first quarter valued at approximately $45,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Warner Music Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Ramirez Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Warner Music Group in the third quarter valued at approximately $75,000. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its position in Warner Music Group by 627.6% in the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 3,485 shares of the company’s stock worth $125,000 after acquiring an additional 3,006 shares during the period. 96.88% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on WMG. Guggenheim reduced their price target on shares of Warner Music Group from $46.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 5th. Morgan Stanley started coverage on shares of Warner Music Group in a research note on Monday. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $43.00 price objective for the company. Redburn Atlantic raised shares of Warner Music Group from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $17.00 to $21.00 in a research note on Monday, February 5th. Finally, Loop Capital lifted their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $37.18.

Warner Music Group Trading Up 3.8 %

NASDAQ WMG opened at $35.45 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.50. The firm has a market cap of $18.36 billion, a PE ratio of 40.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $33.59 and a 200 day moving average price of $34.08. Warner Music Group has a 52 week low of $23.62 and a 52 week high of $38.05.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The company reported $0.30 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.43 by ($0.13). The company had revenue of $1.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.68 billion. Warner Music Group had a return on equity of 128.86% and a net margin of 7.42%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Warner Music Group will post 0.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Warner Music Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were issued a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.92%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 21st. Warner Music Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 77.27%.

About Warner Music Group

Warner Music Group Corp. operates as a music entertainment company in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and internationally. It operates through Recorded Music and Music Publishing segments. The Recorded Music segment is involved in the discovery and development of recording artists, as well as related marketing, promotion, distribution, sale, and licensing of music created by such recording artists; markets its music catalog through compilations and reissuances of previously released music and video titles, as well as previously unreleased materials; and conducts its operation primarily through a collection of record labels, such as Warner Records and Atlantic Records, as well as Asylum, Big Beat, Canvasback, East West, Erato, FFRR, Fueled by Ramen, Nonesuch, Parlophone, Reprise, Roadrunner, Sire, Spinnin' Records, Warner Classics, and Warner Music Nashville.